whose got an fj62 they want to get rid of?

Oh guys. Help me out. My 97 FZJ80 has a rough idle that will eventually kill the engine. I'm also getting a strong fuel smell and un burnt fuel coming from the exhaust manifold. I thought it was an ignition issue because had a lot of oil around the dizzy. I did a full distributor assembly, plugs, & plug wire replacement and still no luck. The 4 cylinder plug smelled very gassy. I have a smoke machine coming via Amazon today

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FIDO 96 said:

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Oh guys. Help me out. My 97 FZJ80 has a rough idle that will eventually kill the engine. I'm also getting a strong fuel smell and un burnt fuel coming from the exhaust manifold. I thought it was an ignition issue because had a lot of oil around the dizzy. I did a full distributor assembly, plugs, & plug wire replacement and still no luck. The 4 cylinder plug smelled very gassy. I have a smoke machine coming via Amazon today

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My best guess would be an injector issue.

Any recent changes or work done on the vehicle? Anything that might put additional load on the engine at idle? Just thinking it's possible that the belt is killing the engine via accessory drag and the unburned fuel is just the engine trying to maintain idle RPM.

Here's Claude's opinion:
Most likely causes, in order:
[ol]

Fuel pressure regulator diaphragm has failed. This is common on the 1FZ and quick to check. Pull the vacuum hose off the regulator on the fuel rail. If it smells of gas or fuel drips out, replace the regulator. A failed regulator makes the engine run rich, smell of fuel and stumble at idle.

The #4 injector is stuck open or dripping. Swap the #4 injector with another cylinder's and run the engine briefly. If the wet plug moves to the new cylinder, the injector is bad. Its resistance should be about 1314 . Toyota injectors are cheap enough that many people replace all six.

#4 isn't firing at all, which leaves its fuel unburnt. Do a compression test, and a leak-down test on #4 if it reads low. A burnt valve or head gasket failure would also leave the plug wet. A quick check: unplug the #4 injector at idle. If the idle doesn't change, that cylinder was already dead.

[/ol]
Things to double-check from your ignition work:

• Plug wire order: the firing order is 1-5-3-6-2-4. Wires crossed between neighboring cylinders are an easy mistake.
• Base timing: set it at 3 BTDC with TE1 and E1 jumpered in the diagnostic connector. A new distributor installed a tooth off will make the engine run rough and rich.
• Codes: a '97 is OBD-II, so read them. A P0304 (cylinder 4 misfire) or a rich-mixture code would narrow this down.
• Oil in the plug wells: the oil you saw near the distributor may come from the spark plug tube seals. Oil in the wells can cause misfires too.

If all six cylinders turn out to be rich, not just #4, also check the coolant temperature sensor. If it reads cold, the computer adds extra fuel to every cylinder.
I'd start with the regulator vacuum hose check, since it takes two minutes, then swap the #4 injector.

So. More bad news. My beautiful Toyota Red coolant has disappeared from the reservoir and the coolant inside the radiator is milky.


Heavy white smoke from the exhaust. Tandem has it now and will make a definitive prognosis

Head gasket
been there done that

Did you do your own replacement?

FIDO 96 said:

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Did you do your own replacement?

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Nope, Toyota dealer did it. They farmed out the machine work.

But all you need is a good machine shop to machine the head and a good indy can reassemble with new gaskets etc
I think you do the PHH at the same time, it's been awhile since I've owned an 80
(Pesky Heater Hose)
You could get a new radiator (get one for a
93) and thermostat as well.

That really stinks.

I had engine gasses bubbling up through the radiator, also a gasket failure.

Ended up having Tandem swap the motor with a used one from LKQ as they weren't sure if they'd be able to get mine machined and usable.

oK so better news. The white smoke turns blue quickly if you let it idle. And the "milky" coolant was just rusty. Compression test and bore scope show no HG issues. #4 injector is stuck wide open but so far cylinder does not look washed.


Will be replacing all new OEM injectors and bits / pieces.

The 80 lives to drive another 100k miles.